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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29782377">all the love you left behind</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/irondevils/pseuds/irondevils'>irondevils</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>sympathy for the devil [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Daredevil (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Dementia, Foggy Nelson Is a Good Bro, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Harsh Language, Human Disaster Matt Murdock, Hurt Matt Murdock, Hurt No Comfort, I'm Sorry, Major Character Injury, Matt Murdock Needs a Hug, Memory Loss</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 02:28:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,969</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29782377</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/irondevils/pseuds/irondevils</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“I’m sorry,” Foggy started. He didn’t know what he did wrong, but he didn’t want to see Marci cry. “Baby no, don’t be sorry.” She interrupted, wiping at her eyes. “It’s okay. Maybe it’s a good thing.” At Foggy’s confused face, she finished:<br/>“No Foggy Bear. Matt’s not coming today. Tomorrow though okay?”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Franklin "Foggy" Nelson/Marci Stahl, Matt Murdock &amp; Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, Matt Murdock/Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, whichever suits your fancy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>sympathy for the devil [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2220600</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>all the love you left behind</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>omg hey i haven't seen you guys in a while. this is a somewhat different fandom than i usually write in but i hope you enjoy it anyway. hey twitter friends! i know y'all are here. don't judge me too hard. also i'm sorry for this. but i'm also not at all. so do with that what you will</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I’m coming buddy!”</p><p>Foggy huffed, out of breath, jogging across the dorm hall. Matt laughed loudly ahead of him, waiting outside the door to their room.</p><p>Ten minutes prior, Foggy had received an urgent call from his roommate, ordering him to get back to their room as soon as possible. Foggy sprinted as fast as he could, figuring Matt had gotten himself into an “I've fallen and I can't get up” type situation. Obviously that was not the case. Foggy finally reached his friend, clapping him on the shoulder.</p><p>“Dude, “ He panted, out of breath. “This better be good. I just ran like two miles. You know I hate cardio.” Matt smiled, a rare toothy grin spreading wide across his face. That alone almost made the impromptu exercise worth it. Almost. Foggy smiled despite himself, patting his friend on the shoulder.</p><p>“So?” He questioned. “What’s up? A grade? A girl? A boy? I won’t judge. You know I won't judge.” Matt shook his head, reaching into his jacket and pulling a neatly folded piece of paper out of the pocket.</p><p>“Better.” He said, holding it out in Foggy’s direction. Foggy raised an eyebrow, keeping a suspicious eye on Matt’s amused face and carefully unfolding the paper. Matt rolled his eyes.</p><p>“Read it!” Foggy looked down, glancing over the words.</p><p>“Mr. Franklin Nelson,” He read out loud, in the terrible British accent he knows Matt hates. “We are pleased to inform you’ve been accepted into the Landman and Zack Law Internship program!” Foggy gasped, dropping the letter and gaping at his best friend. Matt’s grin widened, a hand holding up a similar letter of his own.</p><p>“No way man!” Foggy exclaimed. “You actually did it! We did it! I made it!” He threw his arms out, waving them from side to side and dancing through the hallway. Matt giggled, honest to God giggled, and Foggy couldn’t help but think that it was a shame he couldn’t see his moves.</p><p>“Don’t forget me,” Matt joked, moving to unlock their room door. “You know, for when you’re rich and famous.” Foggy scoffed, holding the door open as Matt shuffled into their room.</p><p>“Like I could ever forget you buddy, I need you! My wingman! I wouldn’t survive those high class sharks without you.” Foggy dropped his bag on his bed, settling on the end and facing Matt, looking him in the eye. It was rare that he took his glasses off. They served as some sort of barrier between Matt and a world that had been so cruel to him. Usually there was something tragic, something weighed down by immense loss in those baby browns. But today there wasn’t any. Just pure happiness. Foggy couldn’t say he felt the same. He was serious about Landman and Zack. He couldn’t help but feel like a tiny fish in a sea of relentless, bloodthirsty sharks. What if he wasn't good enough? What if the other interns were rude to Matt?</p><p>“Hey,” Matt called softly, like he could tell Foggy was starting to overthink. “It’s going to be okay.” Foggy wasn't so sure, but he shrugged it off. He could do anything with Matt by his side.</p><p>“We’ll have each other’s backs yeah? You got me?” Matt asked, smiling gently. A wave of calm washing over him in a way that only Matt could manage.</p><p>“Yeah,” Foggy answered. “I’ve got you.” Matt held his fist out.</p><p>“Partners?” Foggy tapped their fists together, grinning like an idiot.</p><p>“‘Til death do us part.” He responded, his obnoxious British accent returning. Matt cackled, falling backwards onto his bed.</p><p>“Hey!” Foggy exclaimed, jumping on from his bed. Matt made a noise of acknowledgment.</p><p>“I can finally wear that red tie I got last month! Should I? Do I look good in red?”</p><p>Silence.</p><p>“Shit, you wouldn't know, would you? Sorry.” Matt laughed, waving him off with a careless hand.</p><p>“Don’t worry about it. I'm sure you look great in red.” They sat like that for a while. Silent, basking in the joy radiating off the two men. Foggy had no idea how much time had passed when Matt sat up, checking the time.</p><p>“Shit I gotta go,” He said. “My business law class starts soon.” Foggy groaned. Sue him if he wanted to spend some quality celebration time with his best friend. Matt moved to walk out the door, but Foggy stopped him with a hand on his arm. Matt turned in his direction, amused. Foggy opened his mouth, realizing he hadn’t actually had a reason for stopping Matt from going to class. He just didn’t want him to go. He settled on:</p><p>“Congrats again man.” Matt smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling in a way that never failed to remind Foggy that he would do anything for this guy.</p><p>“Thanks man,” Matt said softly, his voice gentle and soothing and everything Foggy needed. “Can I go now?” Foggy sighed, releasing his grip on Matt’s arm and falling back onto his bed. He tried one more time.</p><p>“Please don’t leave me.” Matt chuckled, walking down the hall and not looking back.</p><p>"Come back!” Foggy yelled dramatically. “Don’t leave me here alone!” He could hear Matt cackling across the hall, and moments later, the door shutting behind him. Foggy sighed, a faint trace of a smile on his lips. It was too late. He was already gone. </p><p>------------------</p><p>Foggy startled awake, a strange feeling of joy he couldn’t quite place lingering in the air. Did he dream last night? He couldn’t really remember. But he couldn’t remember much of anything these days. He was with a guy right? In the dream? A friend? Who was that? All Foggy could grasp were feelings of frustration, but ultimately love, toward this mystery man. He was one of the constants. The things embedded so deep in Foggy’s mind that he couldn’t even forget if he wanted to. But what was his name? What did he mean to Foggy? He shrugged. It wasn’t worth the effort. The memory was already slipping, so it’s not like he would remember in a few hours anyway.</p><p>A knock at the door broke him from his stupor. Foggy then took note of where he was. A hospital? Why? Was Matt okay? Then, who’s Matt?</p><p>“Hey baby,” A timid voice called through the doorway. A beautiful, blonde woman stepped into the room. Foggy knew this one. Marci.</p><p>“Hey Marci,” Foggy called. The woman grinned, settling down on a chair at his bedside.</p><p>“I see today is a good day,” she said. “How’d you sleep?” “Okay,” Foggy answered. “I dreamed last night. Actually remember some pieces of it.” Marci looked delighted.</p><p>“That’s great Foggy Bear! You know where we are? Why we’re here?” Foggy looked around, searching for clues. He came up empty. Marci sighed, reading the look on his face.</p><p>“We’re at the hospital, remember? You’re a little sick but you’ll be better soon.” Foggy nodded. That sounded good enough to him. He was too tired to care.</p><p>“Is Matt coming?” Matt. That was his name. His best friend. That was the man in his dream! Where was he? He'd come see Foggy if he was sick, wouldn’t he? Marci’s face dropped. She rubbed a hand over his arm, a few tears slipping their way down her cheeks.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Foggy started. He didn’t know what he did wrong, but he didn’t want to see Marci cry.</p><p>“Baby no, don’t be sorry.” She interrupted, wiping at her eyes. “It’s okay. Maybe it’s a good thing.” At Foggy’s confused face, she finished: “No Foggy Bear. Matt’s not coming today. Tomorrow though okay?” </p><p>------------------</p><p>“Sometime in the next hour or so.” An unfamiliar voice filtered through the haze of Foggy’s dream. The mental picture of the man faded away with his unconsciousness. Foggy didn’t like that. He wanted the man to come back.</p><p>He opened his eyes, sitting up as best he could and meeting Marci’s eyes. She smiled at him, but her eyes were teary. She sat down in the chair beside his bed, placing a wrapped box in his lap.</p><p>“That’s from Karen,” Marci said softly. “It got here a few days ago. I think today is a good day to finally give it to you.” Foggy wasn’t sure who Karen was, but he took the gift from his wife anyway, unwrapping it to reveal an old picture frame. It showed him, dressed in a suit, posing in front of a sign. The sign read “Nelson and Murdock: Attorneys at Law”. A younger version of him was grinning from ear to ear, his arm slung around the shoulders of the man who came to visit him in his dreams. Matt, his mind finally supplied. That was Matt. The moment Foggy recognized his friend’s face, the memories came flooding back. </p><p>-----------------</p><p>“Stay with me, Matty,” Foggy begged, pressing down on the gaping hole in his best friend’s side. It doesn’t seem to matter what he does, warm blood continues to flow through the fabric and through his fingers. “Help is on the way you just have to stay with me okay?”</p><p>Matt doesn’t say anything. The only sign he’s still alive is the unsteady stutter of his breaths echoing through his chest.</p><p>“Foggy,” Matt croaked, fisting his hand into Foggy’s blood soaked t-shirt. “Are you okay? Did I do it?” Foggy couldn’t help the wet laugh that escaped his throat. Of course this dumbass would be worried about him when he’s the one bleeding out on a rooftop.</p><p>“You did it,” Foggy said quietly. “I made it buddy” Matt relaxed at that, releasing his grip on Foggy’s shirt. They sit there in silence for a moment, like they both know what’s going to happen. That help isn’t going to get here in time. That the bullet in his side had done too much damage. That Matt Murdock is going to die on this rooftop, bleeding out in the arms of the only living man who had never wanted this life for him in the first place. </p><p>“Don’t forget me.” Matt joked, the ghost of a smile dancing on his lips. Foggy felt a tear drip down his face, but he quickly wiped it away. He couldn’t let himself cry. He could be strong, just for a few moments. For Matt.</p><p>“I won’t,” Foggy responded shakily. “I can't, even if you are a huge pain in the ass sometimes.” Matt laughed, but it quickly turned into a cough. Sticky wet blood sprayed onto Foggy’s face. He flinched, but refused to acknowledge it. He couldn’t afford to panic right now. Not when Matt needed him.</p><p>“I need you, Matty.” Foggy’s hands found their way to Matt’s face, his fingers running through his blood soaked hair. Foggy stared into Matt’s eyes, unfocused and unseeing. There was no pain in those eyes. No sadness. No weight. Not right now. Just peace. Like saving Foggy and the rest of the people on the block was the only thing he had been sent to this earth to do. Maybe, after years of blood and bruises, broken bones and tears, the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen could finally rest. Foggy inhaled shakily.</p><p>“Hey,” Matt said softly, squeezing Foggy’s hand with his own. “It’s going to be okay.” Foggy held back a sob. No. It wasn’t going to be okay. It was never going to be okay again. Not when, in a few short moments, Foggy was going to have to live in a world without Matt Murdock. He had imagined this day more times than he’d liked to admit. Had lived in it, for a few months. But it was worse, the second time. The knowledge that this was permanent. That there wouldn’t be any hope that Matt would rise reborn from the ashes of a fallen skyscraper. That he and Karen would bury the beaten body of their best friend next to his father. Yet another man, taken from their family too soon, leaving a gaping hole behind. Matt’s chest stuttered again, his breaths few and far between. It wouldn’t be long now.</p><p>“You got me?” Matt whispered, his eyes half lidded and struggling to stay awake. Foggy’s eyes stung.</p><p>“I’ve got you,” Foggy answered. Because he did. Foggy didn’t want to be here, didn’t want to watch this. But there was no way in hell he was letting his best friend die alone.</p><p>“‘Til death do us part,” Matt muttered, eyes slipping closed. Foggy shook him, a tight ball of grief tightening in his chest. He wasn’t ready to let him go. Not yet.</p><p>“Hey, hey don’t go anywhere,” Foggy blurted in a panic. “Marci and I are getting married in a few months. You have to wear that red tie I bought back in college. You pull off red like I never could. I mean, look at me?” He rambled, gesturing to his blood soaked clothes.</p><p>Matt chuckled, his lips quirked up. “I’m sure you look great in red.”</p><p>Foggy laughed with him, breathing in the scent of blood and sweat and <em> Matt. </em>Studying his face, his hair. Wiping away the tears that fell down his friend’s cheeks. The jagged scar on his neck, from an almost fatal injury that Foggy had screamed and cried and yelled over. He’d give anything to be back there now. To take back the harsh words and jabs. To cherish the time he got with his best friend. Foggy rubbed a hand down Matt’s chest, trying to be soothing, to be something, for a man that had saved hundreds today. For the man that had given his blood sweat and tears for a city that repaid him with nothing but gruesome death on a cold, dark night. But what really is a hero without a tragic end? Matt was crying in earnest now. From pain or guilt Foggy wasn’t sure. But he knew he couldn’t force him to stay. It would be selfish of him, to beg through his tears for a few more minutes. Just a few more. This wasn’t enough time. But Foggy knew that there would never be enough time to properly say goodbye.</p><p>“I'm sorry," Matt wheezed. "Will you hate me, if I go? Can I go now?" his eyes remaining closed. Foggy choked on a sob. <em>No</em>, he wanted to yell, to scream from the rooftops. Scream at the sky and at man he doesn’t even believe in. <em>Don’t take him from me! You can’t have him!</em> But he doesn’t. Foggy instead utters a quiet</p><p>“Please don’t leave me.”</p><p>Matt doesn’t answer. His chest falters one last time, before going completely still under Foggy's soft touch. The hand gripping Foggy’s wrist falls limp to the side. Foggy places a finger on his pulse point, and the tell-tale rhythm of his heart no longer beats under his shaky hand. Foggy finally let himself cry, a primal, wordless scream ripping out of his throat and echoing through the sleeping city.  His throat burned and his eyes stung. His whole body shook as he leaned forward, pressing a gentle kiss to Matt’s cold forehead.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Foggy whispered shakily. “I’m sorry. Please come back.” But it was too late. He was already gone. </p><p>-----------------</p><p><br/>
“Oh god,” Foggy cried, his voice rough with tears. He didn’t want to remember. He didn't, but he <em>had</em> to. He promised. He promised Matt he wouldn’t forget him.</p><p>Matt.</p><p>Matt was gone. Dead. And Foggy hadn't even remembered?</p><p>Foggy’s shoulders shook, grief pouring out of him in a flood of uncontrollable tears. A piece of him had died with Matt all those years ago, and he felt it, he <em> felt </em>it. Foggy’s body and soul was being torn to pieces, limb by limb, cell by cell. He couldn’t help but wonder if this is what Matt felt like, in the end. He covered his face with shaking hands. </p><p>“I should’ve saved him. I should’ve done something.” Marci rubbed her hands down his back, tears of her own falling into his hair.</p><p>“There was nothing you could’ve done baby,” She soothed. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry he’s gone. I know you loved him.” Gut-wrenching sobs ripped through Foggy’s chest. The entire hospital could probably hear him, but he didn’t care. Matt was dead. Had been dead for decades. The city had moved on from the loss of their great protector. But for Foggy, it was like losing him all over again.</p><p>“He promised,” He whispered. “He promised he wouldn’t leave me. That I wouldn't lose him. He lied! He promised and he lied!” Foggy screamed, crying out in pure agony. His chin trembled, and his sobs eventually tapered off into muffled cries. He knew Marci’s blouse had to be soaked, but he no longer had the energy to care. The overwhelming feeling of tired, of the end, had finally washed over him. And he welcomed it.</p><p>A while later, Marci pulled back, face puffy and eyes red. She read it on his face. He was ready to go. She squeezed his hand.</p><p>“It’s okay baby. It’s okay. You’ve fought for so long. Been through so much. If you’re ready, you can go.” Foggy smiled at his wife through teary eyes, eternally grateful for her in his life. Maybe there was a God out there after all. He hoped Matt hadn’t ripped him a new one. </p><p>Foggy glanced over at the bedside table, his eyes locked on Matt’s smiling face. The grief was still there, still lingering in the back of his mind, but it made way for an odd sense of peace. Foggy was just thankful he had Matt in his life at all. Even if he had been torn from him in the worst way imaginable. But he’d do it again. For eternity. Because loving him was worth it. Foggy closed his eyes.</p><p>“I’m coming buddy.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>well there was that! hope it didn't suck too bad. feel free to come yell at me in the comments or on my twitter @IRONMURDOCKS. </p><p>here's the link to my mattfoggy spotify playlist! come cry with me: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ik5q4vm8UlPET4eqTvWdD?si=cd3caf60ee904a6a</p><p>until next time!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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